John Oliver recruits stars for dramatic reading of a deposition

In the last episode of last week, John Oliver attacked at the opioid crisis. Yes, this is his second time, but as he says so well, the problem is far from over.

In particular, Oliver focuses on the legal issues of Richard Sackler, former chairman of the board and president of Purdue Pharma, the makers of Oxycontin. Sackler, which lacks publicity, has been scrutinized in part because of the shocking remarks he made about Oxycontin that were revealed during the trial. He said he wanted to cover the country from a "drug storm" and that the first wave of 59 overdose deaths "could have been much worse" and described patients becoming addicted to his product as "reckless criminals".

As shocking as these typed words may be, Oliver knows there is no substitute for a visual. Although the transcript of Sackler's statement in a Kentucky case was made public, Purdue's lawyers oppose the publication of the video of the statement. That's why Oliver hired Michael Keating, Bryan Cranston, Michael K. Williams and Richard Kind to make dramatic readings of Sackler's testimony.

It's both entertaining and outrageous, as Oliver wanted.